Roche plays it safe in the rain as cousin Martin books a date with the surgeon
DAN MARTIN visited a Dublin surgeon yesterday to arrange an operation on his broken collarbone as the Giro d’Italia prepares to storm through the capital today.
Australian Michael Matthews of the Orica Green Edge team will wear the pink jersey into Dublin after two stages of the race in the North, but the crash that ended Martin’s tour during the team time trial in Friday’s first stage remains the tour’s most dramatic moment so far.
Nicolas Roche finished 34th in yesterday’s stage that ended in a sprint finish in Belfast city centre. Philip Deignan of Team Sky, the other remaining Irish challenger, was well down the field in 123rd.
The stage was taken by sprint specialist Marcel Kittel but the more important progress is measured by the general classification, and Roche starts today’s third stage in Armagh in 23rd place, with Deignan 36th.
That will be especially pleasing for the latter as he recovers from a broken collarbone of his own, sustained in February. Further, Deignan is regarded as a mountain specialist so to be ranked 36 of 196 after a flat stage with a fast finish will please him.
Roche’s Tinkoff Saxo team admitted after the race they were prioritising the safety of Roche, their main contender for the Giro, in the rainy conditions, and they intend to do likewise today with another safety-first approach.
‘On a rainy and slightly hilly stage like this in the beginning of the Giro, it was definitely only a matter of completing the stage without crashes and without time loss for our GC (general classification) riders,’ said team director Lars Michaelsen.
‘We managed to get Roche safely through but Christopher Juul-Jensen (the Wicklow-born Danish rider) crashed but he was on the bike shortly after and completed the stage without losing time.
‘We have the same recipe for today’s stage where we are met with a technically challenging start of the course.’
Thousands are expected to greet the Giro as it crosses the border and travels from Armagh through Dundalk, Castle- bellingham, and the Dublin coastal towns of Balbriggan and Skerries before finishing up on Merrion Square outside Government Buildings.
It was the injury suffered by Martin, and in front of a home crowd, that has made the biggest mark on the Giro’s Irish start. His fall took down three of his Sky team-mates and ended the tour of his team-mate Koldo Fernandez.
Martin’s Garmin-Sharp team were anxious for him to have surgery as soon as possible, with the rider expected to target a return in the Tour de France, which starts on July 5.
Another team-mate, Ryder Hesjedal, spoke of Martin’s eagerness to perform in front of an Irish crowd in a grand tour, something unlikely to be repeated for years to come.
‘I know how much it meant to him to be racing here, and how much this race meant to him.’
Martin himself did not appear to be letting his misfortune kill his sense of humour entirely.
A chiropractor with the Garmin-Sharp team shared on Twitter an exchange he had with the injured rider yesterday morning.
When he asked Martin what he planned to do for the second stage, the stricken cyclist replied: ‘might go play some tennis’.
Roche had earlier expressed his sympathy for his first cousin Martin, writing on Twitter: ‘Crap for @DanMartin86!!! Get well cousin.. So sorry about that unlucky strike you have been going through’, and Stephen Roche wrote on his account, ‘Absolutely gutted Dan’.